The Children of the Sky

By: Vernor Vinge

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 27 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

After nearly twenty years, Vernor Vinge has produced an enthralling sequel to his memorable best-selling novel A Fire Upon the Deep.

Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred children who were in cold-sleep aboard the vessel that brought them.

While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them - and among the humans - who seek power… and no matter the cost, these malcontents are determined to overturn the fledgling civilization that has taken root since the humans landed.

On a world of fascinating wonders and terrifying dangers, Vernor Vinge has created a powerful novel of adventure and discovery that will entrance the many readers of A Fire Upon the Deep. Filled with the inventiveness, excitement, and human drama that have become hallmarks of his work, this new novel is sure to become another great milestone in Vinge’s already stellar career.

©2011 Vernor Vinge (P)2011 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Vinge is undeniably one of the greatest hard science fiction writers to put pen to paper, and he can easily be compared to such greats as Arthur C. Clarke, Poul Anderson, or Stanislaw Lem." ( Wired)
"[T]he near-perfect balance of science fiction's twin traditions of wild speculation and high-intensity storytelling.... Vinge's explosive imagination and deft storytelling make epics zip past like hummingbirds - you'll steal daytime moments to read more, and lie awake at night contemplating what you've read." (BoingBoing.net)

Sequels a classic - feels more sequel than classic

I enjoyed this expansion of the classic 'A Fire Upon The Deep', but was a little disappointed in the choice of narrator. Don't get me wrong - Oliver Wyman is one of my favorites. Indeed, his performance's of the first two Safehold installments were brilliant, but I don't think he had the same energy as Peter Larkin had in 'Deep'.

That being said, the story was quite good, but not stunning. To be fair, all the mind blowing concepts were fleshed out in the first book, so you can't expect to be captivated in the same way.

also, I had a harder time visualizing the "Pack mind" in this offering than the first - not sure why.

All in all, not as good as 'A Fire Upon The Deep', but except for 'Aliens' and 'The Godfather Part 2', what sequel is ever as Good as the original. Anyway, it's well worth the effort.

Hopefully, this book is a bridge.

I enjoyed this book, though it had more of a fantasy feel than I would have preferred. Additionally, there are so many unresolved conflicts that I feel little was answered in this book. I look forward to a sequel.

Mediocre experience

The story wasn't worth 28 hours of listening, and the narration didn’t make it better. I really did enjoy hearing more about the Tines, the fascinating alien hive mind race introduced in A Fire Upon the Deep. However, in the end I was frustrated by the lack of progression and closure. I was not aware that this was an open-ended book (none of the blurbs had hinted at this) and was annoyed to find this out only late in the book.

Although the narrator did a good job with different voices, making even the female voices sound convincing, the narration lacked emotional variation. His voice was gloomy/ominous a lot of the time even if the scene did not call for it, which made me feel down even if something happy had just occurred.

Combined with a plot that was mostly backstory and considering the book could be 25% shorter, this didn’t make for an interesting experience. Of course, there were a few exciting moments, but all-in-all I was not impressed. Still, if you’re a fan of the previous two books in the Zones of Thought series, it’s kind of required listening.

Aliens

I really enjoyed the introduction of the tines and their continued story, and the second novel

Not bad, but not as good as previous books

Not as good as A Fire Upon the Deep, but worth reading. A lot is left unresolved, and I have so much unsatisfied curiosity about the universe that Vernor Vinge created. I think he could have done so much more with this book. Still, I enjoyed it and I am glad that I read it.

Author creates epic space universe, inexplicably tells story about dog politics

You loved Fire Upon the Deep for its fascinating universe with unique rules and myriad of fantastic aliens and their enigmatic cultures. Now get ready for the long anticipated follow up adventure where the author inexplicably abandons all of that in favor of medieval dog politics. Read in a performance so slow and ponderous you’ll have to speed it up just to keep from going crazy.

Great Story; Pronunciation Issues

What did you love best about The Children of the Sky?

Great story. Great return to Tines world. I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I really wish the narrator had listened to the narration of A Fire Upon the Deep and used the same pronunciation for the place and people names. The narration is really slow, but used the Audible app to speed it up by 1.5x and it was fine.

A worthy sequel

I've been looking forward to this book for 20 years, and despite the high expectations, I was not in the least disappointed. Tines World, and the Tines themselves, are fleshed out in magnificent detail, with new insights on the distributed cognition that made their depiction in A Fire Upon the Deep so appealing. The deeply problematic legacy of the human refugees is also explored. Its interaction with brutal Tinish politics leads to plots within plots. Oliver Wyman does a wonderful job at making each of the many character voices distinct.

My least favorite genre barely salavaged by Tines

Although I love science fiction and space opera in general, I hate the "Gilligan's Island" sub-genre; that being my short hand for people from a high tech civilization trapped on a low tech world. Maybe it's because that is pretty close to my idea of hell, and because is deceptive advertising. I paid for scifi book, not a preindustrial fiction. If it wasn't for all of the fun/cool aliens in this book, and my love for the first two installments of the series, I wouldn't have bothered finishing this book.

Next installment in the saga…

Having been previously introduced to this world made getting into the story easier.
Vinge can weave multiple characters in different locations into epic drama.
I eagerly anticipate for more.